Chinese Medicine Notes

Miriam Lee’s 10 Points- Guest Post

Posted on September 13, 2009 by Yael

This post was written by Revital Kerem, a colleague from Israel.
Revital sent me her thoughts after reading the news of Miriam’s Lee passing last June.
I was glad to get the chance to know more about Lee’s work, so much so that I asked Revital if she’s willing to translate her Hebrew article to English.
So here is it, Revital’s tribute to Miriam Lee.

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Miriam Lee died at the end of June 2009. Following the announcement of her passing I wish to pay tribute and write a few words about a combination of points that always works.

In the introduction to her book, Insights of a Senior Acupuncturist, Lee describes her early years as an acupuncturist in the USA. I was especially drawn to one paragraph telling of
the time she did not have enough needles to treat a patient, but nevertheless, she “treated her with a prayerful heart”… Later on it seems she managed to widen that heart manifolds, treating up to 80 patients a day, starting at the crack of dawn.

In the introduction to her book, Lee describes growing up in China and working as a nurse and a midwife before becoming an acupuncturist, and living through the Japanese occupation and World War II.  These were extremely difficult times for the people of China. Later on she moved to Singapore, where she practiced acupuncture for many years. As a practitioner she recognized the variations in her patients’ medical ailments. As life in Singapore was easier, she began seeing the kind of problems that, as she said, arise from unfairness and anger – the same problems that are so widespread in America.  Feelings of unfairness and anger can cause depression, hyperactivity, and mental problems such as schizophrenia and suicide – problems that are not mentioned in acupuncture books from China, where people struggle for life itself, rather than over the quality of life. When people anguish over the quality of life there is more qi caught up in emotional blockages. 

After 17 years in Singapore, Miriam Lee came to California, where acupuncture was illegal. Nonetheless, she felt an urge to help people and started practicing acupuncture, News traveled fast and Lee attracted a growing number of patients. As the lines got longer, Lee was in need of a set of points that could be helpful for the majority of common complaints. Specifically, she was looking for a way to facilitate the free flowing of emotional qi in the middle burner. Stagnation of the middle burner prevents pure qi from ascending to the brain. 

Lee found the key to her search in the Nei Jing:
”When the stomach and spleen, the central jiao, are attacked by emotion, pure qi cannot ascend to the brain, and the evil qi, the waste, can not descend. It will remain stuck in the stomach”…

Based on this model, Lee created the following formula:

ST36: the best point to move stagnant qi in the middle burner

SP6: supports the liver, kidneys and spleen

L11: moves the colon thus cleansing the body

LI4: replenishes qi in the body

LU7: Cleans the kidneys, enabling oxygen flow to the brain

Lee explains the combination: these points are well-balanced in terms of yin and yang, and in their position, and they are needled bilaterally. This fact, and their different individual usage, makes them powerful enough to treat the entire body.
The needling technique is also interesting. ST36 is needled first since it activates the stomach meridian, enabling qi flowing to the face. Insert both needles and then obtain qi. Then, with right hand over left needle, and left hand over right needle, move 240 degrees clockwise and back 120 degrees counter-clockwise. This is done 3 X 3 times. After that she needles LI4, and then the rest of the points. The treatment lasts longer than usual – about 30-40 minutes. In my experience, using this combination will yield good results even with the conventional acupuncture technique. In her book Lee talks in detail about treating depression, multiple sclerosis, allergies, emotional and neural problems, overweight and more. In treating diabetes she prefers SP7 ,SP6 and Shenguan.

In April 1974, Miriam Lee was arrested for practicing medicine without a license. The police came at 6:45, after she had already treated 10 patients, one of which had traveled 4 hours to get to her. At the trial her patients filled the courtroom, insisting that they had the right to receive the only medicine which had helped them.
Within a matter of days there was a compromise with Governor Reagan, and acupuncture was made “an experimental procedure”, which allowed Miriam Lee to work under the auspices of San Francisco University, until the signing of the legislation legalizing acupuncture in 1976. It can be argued that Miriam Lee, her incarceration, her patients’ protest and her integrity, paved the way to recognition for all of us.

I learned the 10 points combination in Amir Ragones’ class at Reidman College and I’ve been using them extensively ever since. Sometimes I needle them as the initial stage of treatment, I use them in cases of chronic fatigue, emotional distress, depression and more. Miriam Lee’s students used to write in their protocols the abbreviation ML whenever they used Miriam Lee’s combination, and so do I. In this article I wish to thank her for this powerful combination which has become an important part of my work.

Over to you
Do you work with Lee’s 10 points? Do you find the point afffective in your clinic? Please leave your thoughts and comments, I’m curious to know more about the 10 points.